In which the cumbersome and timeworn world of provincial printing is brought to life through the trials and tribulations of Jérôme-Nicolas Séchard, a once illiterate journeyman turned master printer, who eyeingly guards his legacy and ancient presses with avaricious care. His son David, newly returned from Paris equipped with education and modern ideas, faces the burdensome negotiations and harsh realities of inheriting a struggling family business amid the shifting social and political tides of post-Revolutionary France.